Wailing Into The Void

Mayor Bloomberg’s approval rating has dropped nine points in the last month.  He’s still at a very healthy 59 percent, but there are signs trouble may be brewing:

Significantly, 47 percent of voters said they believed the city was headed in the wrong direction, compared with 45 percent who said the city is on the right path. By comparison, two years ago, in a March 2006 Marist survey, 64 percent of registered voters said the city was moving in the right direction compared with 30 percent who thought it was going the wrong way.

Al Franken appears to be gaining some ground in the recount. Will he have overtaken Coleman when the dust finally settles?  I have no idea, but I expect there will be a lot of dust that takes a long time to settle before this thing is through.

Oh joy.  In order to balance its budget, the MTA is proposing severe cuts in service coupled by a rise in fares:

Mr. Sander said the route alterations “will result in extra transfers, longer travel times, longer wait times and longer walking time.” Trains would be more crowded. Subway cars would be cleaned less frequently. Station booths would be closed. Bus service would be cut back on weekends and at nights. The express-bus fare would rise to $7.50 from $5. The cost of the Access-a-Ride paratransit service for disabled riders would rise.

All these crazy measures are being proposed because the MTA is required by law to pass a balanced budget, regardless of general economic circumstances.  I don’t know enough (but I plan to start learning) about the laws to know if there are any feasible means for waiving this requirement in the face of dire circumstances, but if there are they ought to be considered.

This photo is not of Yankee Stadium, Google. C’mon.  It looks like the Polo Grounds to me, although I’m not positive about that.

Google now has the LIFE photo archive up.  I’m grateful for the new time-waster but wondering who’s in charge of the captioning these photos.  I’m pretty sure the photo below is of the Williamsburg Bridge, not the Brooklyn Bridge as Google is trying to tell me.

Begich wins.  Sarah will have to be content with staying Governor.

Jan. 20 in DC could be the biggest party ever.  Let’s all go.

It turns out Mayor Bloomberg won’t be putting a halt to those $400 rebate checks to homeowners as he announced a few weeks ago.  He needs City Council approval for such a move.  Whoops.  I’d hate to be the person on Mayor Mike’s staff who’s responsible for this screw-up.

Even the religious right is cutting back.

I’ve signed on to be the canvassing chief for Hal Phillips’ campaign for City Council in the 26th district.  I’m very excited and look forward to helping Hal and getting my feet wet (soaked) in local politics.  I have plenty of work ahead of me and no doubt I’ll have lots to blog about.